AWARE concerned about B.C. Transit’s plans

Transit officials coming to Whistler Monday to explain their proposal

A Whistler environmental advocacy group is calling on residents
to speak out against B.C. Transit’s recently announced plans to build their new
hydrogen fueling station and transit hub on top of a wetland near Nesters.

The Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment
(AWARE) issued a press release on Monday, Aug. 11 outlining their position that
the wetland should not be touched.

“I am not sure if we will be able to prevent them, but at least
if we can make people aware of what is happening, then hopefully they’ll have a
better understanding of how people feel about it and that they just cannot do
it without people having a say,” said Sara Jennings, president of AWARE.

“Hopefully we’ll have people contact them and let them know how
they feel.”

AWARE’s reactions comes one week after B.C. Transit announced
that it plans to build the new transit facility on a plot of land owned by B.C.
Hydro. Steve New, senior vice president of B.C. Transit, said he was confident
that B.C. Transit would be able to mitigate the environmental impact of the
facility.

The Crown agency plans to redirect an unnamed creek on the
property to create a new wetland-like environment and maintain the site’s
connectivity with other wetlands in Whistler.

However AWARE is concerned that these mitigation measures will
not be enough.

“The wetland in question is already threatened by a lot of
development in the area, and we believe this is more reason to protect and
enhance it, rather than destroy it,” Jennings said in the release.

“B.C. Transit has said that they will mitigate environmental
impacts by re-creating the wetland, but scientists we have spoken to have
stated that wetlands are difficult if not impossible to properly re-create and
should be protected from construction in the first place.”

The land was identified as a red listed vegetation community by
biologists at Cascade Environmental in 1999. But since the property is owned by
B.C. Hydro, a Crown corporation, it is exempt from the municipality’s
regulations, including its policy of protecting wetlands.

B.C. Transit officials have been communicating their plans to
the municipality over the past few months and are scheduled to give a
presentation on the project at the Aug. 18 council meeting. The municipality
has also said that it supports B.C. Transit’s site selection.

Manuel Achadinha, president and CEO of B.C. Transit, stressed
this week that the Crown agency wants to respect the values of the Whistler
community.

“I respect the comments from the folks from AWARE and the
community at large, and we want to be a respected member of the community as
well as a valued member,” said Achadinha. “That is why I am coming up on
Monday. We are not going to hide behind anything. We want to explain to the
community exactly what we are doing.”

Achadinha said one thing he has noticed personally walking
through the site is that over the years, heavy vehicles have driven up to the
site and dumped snow in the area. This has smashed the culvert piping,
preventing water from properly flowing through the site. Salt in the snow has
probably also damaged the site’s original ecological value.

“I think when people see the drawings and what we are proposing
to do, we are really trying to mitigate our footprint as much as possible,” he
said.

“I know people say how the heck are you going to enhance the
site when you are putting a whole lot of pavement down, and there is that
challenge, no doubt. But it is also creating something for the community as
well.”

Achadinha added that B.C. Transit aims to make the new bus hub
a LEED Gold standard building.

B.C. Transit has been looking for a new location for its bus
facility since September 2007, when it was announced that Whistler would
receive 20 state of the art hydrogen fuel cell buses in 2009. The current
facility in Function Junction is not large enough to accommodate the new buses.

The municipality has also been concerned with the dead-head
costs and extra emissions associated with a transit facility that is not
centrally located in Whistler.

“I think the idea here is when the world comes in 2010 to show
just how environmentally responsible the community of Whistler is,” said
Achadinha.

But Steve Bayly, co-owner of an adjacent site, which was also
considered by B.C. Transit for the facility, said he is concerned with the
environmental impact the facility could have on the wetland.

“It is a shame that B.C. Transit did not give consideration to
the wetlands and did not look meaningfully at any alternatives,” said Bayly.

Bayly and partner Nigel Woods also own the land were the
current transit facility in Function Junction is located. Their lease with B.C.
Transit expires in 2013, but Bayly said an agreement to end the contract
earlier has already been worked out.